Category Archives: Video clips

If you can’t wait til that one part of The Oscars where everyone in the room says, “oh he died!?” Followed by, “oh yeah, I forgot she died.” Then, “I bet they save Paul Walker until the end.” TCM has you covered.

So I watched about half of this before I decided it was definitely worth sharing. It’s got some bumps, but I do look forward to the next episodes. To explain what this is all about though, I leave it to JG-L himself:

Ladies and gentlemen, I am beside myself with joy and anticipation :oD It is my sincere pleasure to present the very first episode of HITRECORD ON TV! Watch the entire first episode here before it premieres on television.

Everything you’re gonna see on this show was made collaboratively on our site — hitRECord.org — and the work of 426 Contributing Artists is featured in this particular episode. There’s gonna be 8 episodes this season, each revolving around a different theme, like RE: Space, RE: The Other Side, and RE: Money. And since this is our first ever episode, I figured the theme of this one would be RE: The Number One. HITRECORD ON TV will be coming out on January 18th on a new cable channel called Pivot.

I’m deeply proud of this show, and I think you’re realllllly gonna like it. Honestly, making this thing together with all the artists from around the world in our hitRECord community has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life so far. So, without any further ado, enjoy the show!

Thanks again,
J

So if you’ve got an extra 22 minutes lying around, take a look at the video below. It’s actually pretty inspiring, creative and above all, fun. Then let us know what you think in the comment section below.

If you’ve seen American Hustle, you either love it or hate it or are still scratching your head. No matter you’re feelings on the film, you can’t tell me you didn’t come away a little upset at not hearing the end to Louis CK’s ice fishing story about him and his brother and their angry father.

A Q&A I recorded at one of the Toronto International Film Festival screenings of Errol Morris’s new documentary on Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Morris talks a bit about language, and a bit about the contradictions and snowflakes of a political lifer that is still in his bubble of denial. It is a rather excellent 12 minute supplement to the film itself.

Apparently “The Simpsons” are still around and still doing their annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode – which is traditionally some of the better stuff to come out of the Groenig camp. At any rate, as you are I’m sure aware each episode of The Simpsons opens with a different “couch gag” in the opening credits sequence. For this year’s sequence, Guillermo del Toro lent his magic hand and incorporates all sorts of horror/sci-fi/action movie moments from cinema history. He includes Hitchcock stuff, early classic monster movie (i.e. Boris Karloff) stuff, some Cronenberg and of course each of his film’s are referenced as well. Take a look and see how many you can spot!

As a part of Toronto’s Fan Expo, Rue Morgue Magazine runs the Festival of Fear, and they invited Joe Dante up to present a 35mm print of his severely underrated, but nevertheless, cult-classic Tom Hanks comedy, The ‘burbs. Dante talks about shooting on the Universal backlot, set visits and defecation by Michael Jackson’s pet monkey Coco, the amazing talents of Bruce Dern and the eccentricities of Brother Theodore, how much of the screenplay was improvised by the performers (“That’s about a 9 on the tension scale, Rube.”) due to the ongoing writers strike at the time and of course, the Alfred Hitchcock and Looney Toons references on the film. A top shelf event all around.

In just a couple of weeks, Closed Circuit will hit selected theaters and I must admit I hadn’t heard much about it until now. It’s got a bit of a “Tinker Tailor…” vibe to it and lo and behold it is from the same producers. The film stars Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Riz Ahmed, Anne-Marie Duff, Kenneth Cranham, Denis Moschitto, Julia Stiles and Jim Broadbent. Mmmm Julia Stiles.

Directed by John Crowley, of very underrated Boy A with Andrew Garfield, the movie’s synopsis is as follows:

In the international suspense thriller Closed Circuit, a high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds together two ex-lovers (Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall) on the defense team – testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy.

One morning, a busy London market is decimated by an explosion. In the manhunt that follows, only one member of the suspected terrorist cell survives who is arrested and jailed. Preparations begin for what promises to be the trial of the century.

But as Bana and Hall’s characters begin to piece the case together, the outlines of a sinister conspiracy emerge, one that will draw them dangerously close again.

As a financial supporter for Braff’s new film, Wish I Was Here, I get almost daily updates on the progress of the film. So far the cast has been put together, the script polished and now concept art is being laid out. In the video below, we get a look at some of the first images of what the film’s style is going to be like.

Although it’s just an opening sequence and probably not what the rest of the film’s ideas will encompass, I like the idea of the sci-fi nod from Braff. A futuristic looking knight with some sort of space suit armor, a Conan sword and a floating droid. I dunno, looks somewhat intriguing so far. If anything else new comes along, I’ll be keeping track and will let you know. Oh, and the cast is as follows: Zach Braff (me), Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Josh Gad, Anna Kendrick, Jim Parsons and Donald Faison.

Is this simply nothing more than a commercial for a perfume by a couple of well known directors or is this a tease at something greater? I’m too lazy to do the leg work on this one, so if any Third Row reader has any knowledge about this, let me know.

Here’s maybe a clue: I don’t recognize the gentlemen in the commercial/teaser, but I recognize the girl as the shop owner in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. It’s this girl.

Whatever the case, neat little nugget from Anderson and Coppola…

UPDATE: OK, so I figured this out. It is an ad for Prada. The directors are doing a three part short for the company (reminds me of the BMW ads so long ago with famous directors all taking a crack at shooting Clive Owen driving fast). At any rate, Part 1 and Part 2 of the short is under the seats…

Recent Comments

Kurt Halfyard: Indeed. It came up due to this wonderful video essay on Heaven’s Gate and The Lone Ranger: https://vimeo.com/120401922 However, I’ve watched Heaven’s Gate multiple times well before this. I even wrote about it in 2004 —...

Jonathan: I always get Millennium Films and Millenium Entertainment mixed up… but both distribute complete trash with some impressive star power. I’m sure these films are relatively high paychecks with short filming commitments and minimal press. Can’t blame...

Jonathan Hardesty: Well, and comparing those films and directors in the context of the new Godzilla film is more interesting than just doling out a star rating and saying that Godzilla was either “good” or “bad.” Or at least I find that discussion more...

Arnold Schizopolis: While watching a film, I often find myself trying to figure out the filmmaker’s vision (themes, concepts and/or thesis) and by the end, wonder if he or she was successful. That’s more challenging for me than whether the film met my expectations....

Jonathan: Yeah, Harrison’s career since ’97 has been astonishing in how much it contrasts with the rest of his career. In the 14 movies he’s starred in since Air Force One, every movie has been god-awful–except 42, which I appreciate for the moderately...

Andrew James: So I like Blade Runner quite a bit – though I seem to be in a minority of people that don’t absolutely adore it. Next Incendies blew me away while Prisoners did very little for me and Enemy was arguably the worst movie of the year. So Villeneuve (for...

Jonathan: In ’95, a Blade Runner sequel came out as a novel – Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human. I bought it for fifty cents with its cover ripped off at a five ‘n dime. I liked it then, although I was also ten years old–and Deckard was not a replicant...

Rick Vance: It adds to the bleak and overbearing nature of the world and the motives and behaviors of the police office if people who are ‘Blade Runner’ hunt without that knowledge (It also isn’t a question so I am glad we all dodged that bullet). (I agree...

kurt: One Last thing: http://badassdigest.com/2015/0 2/27/do-androids-dream-of-blad e-runner-making-sense “In turning dick’s novel into a film (if paul sammon’s book “future noir” is to be believed) hampton fancher wrote a line in a draft either very late in...

Andrew James: What Kurt said. I don’t take so much “stock” out of it as it just happens to have a lot of classic blind spots for me. Out of the 250, there were about 42 that I hadn’t seen which is just about exactly how many Cinecasts we do per year so...

Kurt Halfyard: He talked about it on the show, it’s as good a populist list as any, and easy to find. A mixture of arthouse (La Strada, Fanny And Alexander, L’Avventura) and populist (Shawshank Redemption, Godfather, American Beauty) as well as old (Gold Rush, Rear...

Rick Vance: I am surprised Andrew has so much stock in the imdb top 250.

Matt Gamble: I don’t think I called it exciting outside of a direct comparison to the fucking Oscars, but I still do find it fun. NXT is a waaaaay better product than Raw or Smackdown , and I watch Ring of Honor on occasion (going to a house show later this month). I...

Craig: I can’t believe Matt thinks WWE is still exciting, I still watch it out a weird sense of obligation more than anything else. He should get on Independent companies like Pro Wrestling Guerilla where his mind would be blown. https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Sean Kelly: I couldn’t disagree more with Andrew on WYRMWOOD, which I had quite a lot of fun watching at Toronto After Dark (it’s definitely a film that must be seen theatrically with a crowd). In my opinion, it’s not “just another zombie movie”...

Dean Speir: I clearly like Miller’s Crossing a great deal more than you do (and am in vociferous disagreement with your affection for that faker Brian DePalma!), and I think one of the problems is that you’re unfamiliar with the novels of Dashiell Hammett,...

Jandy Hardesty: I have the whole Keaton Blu-ray set from Kino. I’ve watched like three shorts from it, and that’s it. I was planning to mainline it when Karina was born, but guess what – silent films do not work well when you’re sleep-deprived, not even...

Bob Turnbull: I thought there were some funny bits to the underwater sequence – fencing with a swordfish (using another swordfish), the men at work sign, the rinsing of a pot with water while underwater, etc. Not uproarious stuff (and, to be honest, not up to the level I...

Jandy Hardesty: I watched The Navigator for my Blind Spot series a couple of years ago – I liked the meet cute sequences between Keaton and the girl the best (the fumbling around the kitchen, and then the incredible devices they rigged up eventually). The underwater...

Andrew James: J.K. Simmons was pretty much declared the winner of best supporting actor since the movie was released. It’s been a lock since day one; everyone knew it. Moore has always been a pretty safe bet as well.

Matt Gamble: Yeah, but I’ve had years to cultivate this idiotic persona.

Matt Gamble: You’re entering into a world of pain, Andrew. Until you have some actual relevant data to measure it is pointless to declare who or what the Oscar favorite is. You know, stats and such. Calling out an Oscar favorite before anyone has placed a single vote is...